Cacheable resource location selection

ABSTRACT

Systems and methods for rewriting code related to a network page are described herein. The systems and methods can determine whether the network page includes cacheable resources. Responsive to the determination, the systems and methods can rewrite the code for the network page to cause a user system to access the cacheable resource from a content distribution network. Further, the systems and methods can determine whether access to the cacheable resource should be provided via the content distribution network or a proxy server based at least partially on a relative location of the proxy server and the content distribution network to the user system requesting access to the network page.

The present application was filed on the same day, Aug. 14, 2013, andshares a common specification with U.S. application Ser. No. 13/967,295,titled “SYSTEMS AND METHODS FOR AUTOMATICALLY REWRITING NETWORK PAGECODE,” which is hereby incorporated by reference in its entirety herein.

BACKGROUND

Generally described, computing devices and communication networks can beutilized to exchange information. In a common application, a computingdevice can request content from another computing device via thecommunication network. For example, a user at a personal computingdevice can utilize a software browser application, typically referred toas a browser software application, to request a Web page from a servercomputing device via the Internet. In such embodiments, the usercomputing device can be referred to as a client computing device and theserver computing device can be referred to as a content provider.

In some cases, the client computing device may communicate with thecontent provider through a proxy service. The proxy service, which maybe hosted by a proxy server, may provide an intermediary service betweenthe content provider and the client computing device. The use of theproxy service can result in a number of benefits including anonymity,auditing, data loss prevention, and to implement access policies.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

Throughout the drawings, reference numbers are re-used to indicatecorrespondence between referenced elements. The drawings are provided toillustrate embodiments of the inventive subject matter described hereinand not to limit the scope thereof.

FIG. 1 illustrates an embodiment of a networked computing environmentincluding a number of client computing devices, a content provider, acontent delivery network service provider, and a network computingprovider.

FIG. 2 illustrates another embodiment of the networked computingenvironment.

FIG. 3 presents a flowchart of an embodiment of a network page codemodification process.

FIG. 4 presents a flowchart of an embodiment of a location-based networkpage code modification process.

FIG. 5 presents a flowchart of an embodiment of a content deliverynetwork selection process.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

Introduction

In addition to the aforementioned uses, a proxy service may be used tospeed up accesses to resources associated with a network page and toreduce the amount of bandwidth required for accessing the network page.One method of accomplishing the increased access speed and reducedbandwidth utilization for accessing the network page is to cache atleast some of the resources associated with the network page at theproxy server or using the proxy service. By caching resources at theproxy server, accesses to a content provider may be reduced, which insome cases can both increase access speed and reduce bandwidth usage.

In some cases, when using the proxy service to cache resources, accessspeed for accessing the network page may be reduced. One reason for thereduction in access speed is that the user computing system may belocated further from the proxy service provider than from the contentprovider.

In some instances, an entity associated with the proxy service, such asan owner or administrator of the proxy service, may have access to acontent distribution network (CDN). The CDN may be used to store atleast some of the resources referenced by the network page. In caseswhere a location of the CDN is closer than a location of the proxyservice, and/or the content provider, accessing the resources at the CDNmay increase the speed for accessing the network page. Further,bandwidth requirements may be reduced because, for example, the path foraccessing the resource may be shortened and/or less users may access thenetwork page from the same system due to, for example, distribution ofthe location of users.

Embodiments disclosed herein present systems and methods for rewritingthe code associated with a network page to redirect access to resourcesto a CDN. The resources, or references to the resources, may be analyzedto determine whether the resources are cacheable. If the resources arecacheable, copies of the resources may be stored at the CDN. A networkcomputing component (NCC) of a network computing provider system mayrewrite the code associated with the network page to access thecacheable resources at the CDN. The rewritten network page may then beprovided to a user computing system that requested the network page. Insome cases, the network page may be streamed to the user computingsystem as the network page is being rewritten enabling the usercomputing system to begin accessing non-cacheable resources from thecontent provider system or from a proxy service at the NCC. Further, insome cases, by streaming the rewritten network page, cacheable resourcesreferenced in the rewritten network page may be accessed while anotherportion of the network page is being rewritten.

Certain embodiments disclosed herein inlcude systems and methods thatcan determine whether to rewrite a network page based on the location ofthe user computing system requesting the network page relative to one ormore locations of the NCC, the CDN, and/or the content provider system.Further, in cases where the network page is rewritten, the selection ofa CDN location, or point of presence (POP), may be based at leastpartially on the location of the user computing device.

Example Content Delivery Environment

FIG. 1 illustrates an embodiment of a content delivery environment or anetworked computing environment 100 configured to provide access tocontent. The network computing environment 100 can include a number ofclient computing devices 102. Further, although only one of each isillustrated, the networked computing environment 100 can include one ormore content provider systems 104, one or more content delivery network(“CDN”), or content distribution network, service provider systems 106,and one or more network computing provider systems 107.

As illustrated in FIG. 1, the networked computing environment 100includes a number of client computing devices 102 (generally referred toas clients) for requesting content and content processing from a contentprovider system 104, CDN service provider system 106, or networkcomputing provider system 107. In an illustrative embodiment, the clientcomputing devices 102 can correspond to a wide variety of computingdevices including personal computing devices, laptop computing devices,hand-held computing devices, terminal computing devices, mobile devices(e.g., mobile phones, smart phones, tablet computing devices, etc.),wireless devices, various electronic devices and appliances, video gamesystems, kiosks, and the like. In an illustrative embodiment, the clientcomputing devices 102 include hardware and software components forestablishing communications over a communication network 108. Forexample, the client computing devices 102 may be equipped withnetworking equipment and browser software applications that facilitatecommunications via a network (e.g., the Internet) or an intranet. Theclient computing devices 102 may have varied local computing resourcessuch as central processing units and architectures, memory, massstorage, graphics processing units, communication network availabilityand bandwidth, etc. Although termed “client” computing devices, theclient computing devices 102 can include any type of user computingdevice and is not limited to a client device of a client/serverarchitecture.

The network 108 can include any type of communication network. Forexample, the network 108 can include one or more of a wide area network(WAN), a local area network (LAN), a cellular network, an ad hocnetwork, a satellite network, a wired network, a wireless network, etc.Further, in some cases, the network 108 can include the Internet.

The networked computing environment 100 can also include a contentprovider system 104 in communication with the one or more clientcomputing devices 102 or other service providers (e.g., CDN serviceprovider system 106, network computing provider system 107, etc.) viathe communication network 108. The content provider system 104illustrated in FIG. 1 may correspond to a logical association of one ormore computing devices associated with a content provider entity.Specifically, the content provider system 104 can include a web servercomponent 110 corresponding to one or more server computing devices forobtaining and processing requests for content (such as Web pages) fromthe client computing devices 102 or other service providers. The contentprovider system 104 can further include an origin server component 112and associated storage component 114 corresponding to one or morecomputing devices for obtaining and processing requests for networkresources from the CDN service provider system 106. The content providersystem 104 can still further include an application server computingdevice 111, such as a data streaming server, for processing streamingcontent requests. One skilled in the relevant art will appreciate thatthe content provider system 104 can be associated with variousadditional computing resources, such as additional computing devices foradministration of content and resources, domain name system (“DNS”) nameservers, and the like. For example, although not illustrated in FIG. 1,the content provider system 104 can be associated with one or more DNSname server components that would be authoritative to resolve clientcomputing device DNS queries corresponding to a domain of the contentprovider. Further, although termed “server” computing devices, the webserver 110, origin server 112, and application server 111 can includeany type of computing devices for providing access to a network resourceand are not limited to servers of a client/server architecture.

With continued reference to FIG. 1, the networked computing environment100 can further include a CDN service provider system 106 incommunication with the one or more client computing devices 102 andother service providers via the communication network 108. The CDNservice provider system 106 illustrated in FIG. 1 may correspond to alogical association of one or more computing devices associated with aCDN service provider entity. Specifically, the CDN service providersystem 106 can include a number of Point of Presence (“POP”) locations116, 122, 128 that correspond to nodes on the communication network 108.In some cases, the CDN POP locations 116, 122, and 128 may begeographically disparate. For example, the CDN POP 116 may correspond toa CDN located in New York, the CDN POP 122 may correspond to a CDNlocated in California, and the CDN POP 128 may correspond to a CDNlocated in London.

Each CDN, located at the CDN POPs 116, 122, 128, may include a DNScomponent 118, 124, 130 made up of a number of DNS server computingdevices for resolving DNS queries from the client computers 102 or othercomputing systems (e.g., the NCCs 136, 144, 150). Each CDN, located atthe CDN POPs 116, 122, 128, may also include a resource cache component120, 126, 132 made up of a number of cache server computing devices forstoring resources from content providers and transmitting variousrequested resources to various client computers. The DNS components 118,124, and 130 and the resource cache components 120, 126, 132 may furtherinclude additional software and/or hardware components that facilitatecommunications including, but not limited to, load balancing or loadsharing software/hardware components.

In an illustrative embodiment, the DNS component 118, 124, 130 andresource cache component 120, 126, 132 are considered to be logicallygrouped, regardless of whether the components, or portions of thecomponents, are physically separate. Additionally, although the CDN POPs116, 122, 128 are illustrated in FIG. 1 as logically associated with theCDN service provider system 106, the CDN POPs will be geographicallydistributed throughout the communication network 108 in a manner to bestserve various demographics of client computing devices 102.Additionally, one skilled in the relevant art will appreciate that theCDN service provider system 106 can be associated with variousadditional computing resources, such as additional computing devices foradministration of content and resources, and the like.

With further continued reference to FIG. 1, the networked computingenvironment 100 can also include a network computing provider system 107in communication with the one or more client computing devices 102, theCDN service provider system 106, and the content provider system 104 viathe communication network 108. The network computing provider system 107illustrated in FIG. 1 may correspond to a logical association of one ormore computing devices associated with a network computing providerentity. Specifically, the network computing provider system 107 caninclude a number of Point of Presence (“POP”) locations 134, 142, 148that correspond to nodes on the communication network 108. In somecases, the POP locations 134, 142, and 148 may be geographicallydisparate. For example, the POP 134 may correspond to a node located inNew York, the POP 142 may correspond to a node located in California,and the POP 148 may correspond to a node located in London.

Each POP 134, 142, 148 may include one or more network computingcomponents (NCCs) 136, 144, 150 for hosting applications, such as datastreaming applications, via a number of instances of a virtual machine,generally referred to as an instance of an NCC. In some cases, the NCCs136, 144, 150 may provide access to physical resources (e.g., storage,processors, etc.). Further, the NCCs 136, 144, 150 may provide access tonetwork pages (e.g., webpages) and/or other network resources that maybe hosted by the content provider system 104.

One skilled in the relevant art will appreciate that NCC 136, 144, 150can include physical computing device resources and software to providethe multiple instances of a virtual machine or to dynamically cause thecreation of instances of a virtual machine. Such creation can be basedon a specific request, such as from a client computing device, or theNCC can initiate dynamic creation of an instance of a virtual machine onits own.

Each NCC POP 134, 142, 148 may also include one or more storagecomponents 140, 146, 152 made up of a number of storage devices forstoring any type of data used in the delivery and processing of networkor computing resources, including but not limited to user data, stateinformation, processing requirements, historical usage data, andresources from content providers that can be processed by an instance ofan NCC 136, 144, 150 and transmitted to various client computers, etc.The NCCs 136, 144, 150 and the storage components 140, 146, 152 mayfurther include additional software and/or hardware components thatfacilitate communications including, but not limited to, load balancingor load sharing software/hardware components for selecting instances ofa virtual machine supporting a requested application and/or providinginformation to a DNS name server to facilitate request routing. In someembodiments, the storage components 140, 146, 152 may be included aspart of the NCCs 136, 144, 150 respectively. As will be describedfurther with reference to FIG. 2, the NCC POPs 136, 144, 150 may includeadditional systems for providing client computing devices 102 withimproved access to network pages and associated network resources.

In an illustrative embodiment, NCCs 136, 144, 150 and the storagecomponents 140, 146, 152 are considered to be logically grouped,regardless of whether the components, or portions of the components, arephysically separate. For example, a network computing provider system107 may maintain separate POPs for providing the NCC and the storagecomponents. Additionally, although the NCC POPs 134, 142, 148 areillustrated in FIG. 1 as logically associated with a network computingprovider system 107, the NCC POPs may be geographically distributedthroughout the communication network 108 in a manner to best servevarious demographics of client computing devices 102. Additionally, oneskilled in the relevant art will appreciate that the network computingprovider system 107 can be associated with various additional computingresources, such as additional computing devices for administration ofcontent and resources, and the like. Even further, one skilled in therelevant art will appreciate that the components of the networkcomputing provider system 107 and components of the CDN service providersystem 106 can be managed by the same or different entities.

Although FIG. 1 illustrates one content provider system 104, one CDNservice provider system 106, and one network computing provider system107, the networked computing environment 100 is not limited as such. Thenetworked computing environment 100 may include a plurality of contentproviders 104, CDN service providers 106, and/or network computingproviders 107. Further, each of the content providers 104, CDN serviceproviders 106 and/or network computing providers 107 may be associatedwith different entities.

Second Example Networked Computing Environment

FIG. 2 illustrates another embodiment of the networked computingenvironment 200. As previously stated, and as illustrated in FIG. 2 bythe separation from the CDN service provider system 106 of FIG. 1, theCDN POPs 116, 122, 128 may be geographically separate. Further, aspreviously stated, more than one CDN service provider system may exist.In some cases, the CDN service provider systems may be associated withdifferent entities from each other, and different entities from thenetwork computing provider systems 107. However, in some cases, a CDNservice provider system may be associated with the same entity as anetwork computing provider system 107. For example, the CDN POP 210 maybe part of a CDN service provider system that is associated with thesame entity as the entity associated with the network computing provider107, which includes the NCC POP 134. In such cases, the NCC POP 134 maybe able to communicate with the CDN POP 210 via a network internal tothe entity associated with the two systems as well as or instead ofcommunicating via the network 108.

The CDN POP 210 may include some or all of the embodiments previouslydescribed with respect to the CDN POPs 116, 122, 128. For example, theCDN POP 210 may include a number of computing systems including one ormore DNS servers 212 and one or more resource caches 214. The DNSservers 212 may include some or all of the embodiments previouslydescribed with respect to the DNS servers 118, 124, 130. Further, theresource caches 214 may include some or all of the embodimentspreviously described with respect to the resource caches 120, 126, 132.

As previously described, the NCC POPs 134, 142, 148 may include one ormore NCCs 136 and one or more storage systems 140. In addition, asillustrated by the NCC POP 134, the NCC POPs may include a number ofadditional systems. Each of the additional systems may be separatesystems located at the NCC POPs and/or may be part of the NCCs. Forexample, the NCC POP 134 may include a network page code modificationengine 202, a client location identification system 204, a CDNidentification system 206, and a proxy server 208. Further, one or moreof the network page code modification engine 202, the client locationidentification system 204, the CDN identification system 206, and theproxy server 208 may be included as part of the NCC 136.

The network page code modification engine 202 can include any systemthat can rewrite code used for generating a network page. The code maybe any type of code including, for example, HyperText Markup Language(HTML), eXtensible Markup Language (XML), eXtensible HTML (XHTML),JavaScript Object Notation (JSON), AJAX, etc. In certain embodiments,the network page code modification engine 202 can be used to rewrite atleast part of a network page to change the source of a cacheableresource. In some such cases, the cacheable resource can be accessedfrom a CDN instead of via the proxy server 208 improving the speed ofaccess of the cacheable resource.

In some cases, the decision of whether to use a CDN and/or the decisionof the CDN POP to use may depend on the location of the user computingsystem, or client device 102. This location may be determined by theclient location identification system 204 using one or more processesfor establishing a system location. For example, the client locationidentification system 204 may use an Internet Protocol (IP) address, GPSinformation, or query a user to determine the location of the client102, etc.

The CDN identification system 206 can include any system for identifyinga CDN and/or a CDN POP for storing the cacheable resource. In somecases, the CDN identification system 206 can determine the physicallocation of the CDN POP. Further, the CDN identification system 206 maydetermine the location in a network (e.g., the network 108) for a system(e.g., the resource cache 214) included in the CDN.

The proxy server 208 can include any type of proxy server or proxyservice which can act as an intermediary for accessing a network page.For example, the proxy server 208 may include a web proxy. The proxyserver 208 may be used to speed up network page access by, for example,caching frequently accessed cacheable resources.

Example Network Page Code Modification Process

FIG. 3 presents a flowchart of an embodiment of a network page codemodification process. The process 300 can be implemented by any systemthat can modify network page code. For example, the process 300, inwhole or in part, can be implemented by a network computing component(e.g., the NCC 136), a network page code modification engine 202, andthe proxy server 208, to name a few. Although any number of systems, inwhole or in part, can implement the process 300, to simplify discussion,the process 300 will be described with respect to particular systems.

The process 300 begins at block 302 where, for example, the proxy server208 receives a request to access a network page (e.g., a webpage ornetwork accessible page) from a client device 102, or a user computingsystem. The request may be received from an application at the clientdevice 102. The application can be any type of application. For example,the application may be a browser (e.g., a web browser) or a mobileapplication, sometimes termed an “app.”

At block 304, the proxy server 208 generates a request to access thenetwork page from a content provider system 104. The proxy server 208may identify the content provider system 104 based on the requestreceived at the block 302. In some cases, the request generated at theblock 304 may be a modified version of the request received at the block302 to cause the response to the request to be provided to the proxyserver 208 instead of the client device 102.

The proxy server 208 receives the network page from the content providersystem 104 at the block 306. In some embodiments, at least a portion ofthe network page may be received from a source other than the contentprovider system 104. For example, in some such cases, the contentprovider system 104 may redirect a request for a network page to anothercomputing system.

As previously indicated, the network page can include a number ofcacheable resources, such as videos, images, JavaScript, CSS, XML,applets, flash, plug-ins, or other network page resources that an entityassociated with the network page has identified as cacheable. Generally,a resource identified as cacheable may include a resource that theentity associated with the network page does not anticipate modifyingfor a period of time or does not expect another entity associated withthe resource to modify the resource for a period of time. In some cases,the network page may include cacheable resources that have not beenidentified as cacheable due, for example, to coding errors. Moreover, insome cases, the network page may not include any cacheable resources.

At the decision block 308, the network page code modification engine 202determines whether the network page includes one or more cacheableresources. Determining whether the network page includes a cacheableresource may include accessing a cacheable resource tag or indicatorassociated with a resource. For example, the decision block 308 mayinclude accessing an HTTP caching header to determine whether a resourcereferenced in the network page is a cacheable resource. In some cases,the decision block 308 may include accessing a time-to-live indicatorassociated with the cacheable resource. The time-to-live indicator caninclude any type of indicator that can facilitate determining a timeperiod for which a cacheable resource may be cached. For example, thetime-to-live indicator may identify a time when the cacheable resourcewill expire, a time when the cacheable resource was created and a lengthof time the resource may be cached, a length of time remaining beforethe cacheable resource may be modified or replaced, etc. Typically,although not always, during the time period identified based on thetime-to-live indicator, the cacheable resource may be relied upon asbeing the most recent version of the resource. In certain embodiments,the network page code modification engine 202 may determine whether thetime-to-live indicator, or a derived value based on the time-to-liveindicator, satisfies a threshold. In cases where the threshold is notsatisfied, a resource marked as cacheable may be identified as notcacheable for the purpose of performing the process 300.

If the network page does not include cacheable resources, the proxyserver 208 provides the network page to the client device 102 at block310. Further, in cases where the network page includes a cacheableresource, but a time-to-live indicator associated with the cacheableresource does not satisfy a threshold, the proxy server 208 may providethe network page to the client device 102 at the block 310 withoutmodifying the code associated with the network page. In such cases, theproxy server 208 may obtain a new copy of the cacheable resource forstorage at the CDN and/or the NCC. Thus, subsequent accesses to thenetwork page may access the updated cached copy of the cacheableresource if requested before the TTL of the updated cached copy.

In some embodiments, although the network page may include cacheableresources, none of the resources may be cached. For example, if thenetwork page has not been previously requested by a user, has beenmodified significantly since it was last accessed, or a TTL associatedwith each cacheable resource of the network page has expired, none ofthe existing cacheable resources of the network page may be cached. Insuch cases, the network page may be provided to the client device 102without rewriting the network page. Further, in such cases, cacheableresources referenced by the network page may be cached at a CDN and/orNCC 136 to, for example, improve the access time of subsequent requeststo the network page. An example of a process for caching the cacheableresources associated with the network page is described in more detailwith respect to FIG. 5.

If the network page code modification engine 202 determines that thenetwork page does include one or more cacheable resources, the networkpage code modification engine 202, at block 312, rewrites the code(e.g., HTML code, XHTML code, etc.) of the network page to redirect theclient device 102 to a CDN for accessing the one or more cacheableresources. Typically, the CDN (e.g., the CDN that includes the CDN POP210) is owned by or associated with the same entity as the entity thatowns or is associated with the NCC 136. However, in some cases, the CDNmay be associated with a separate entity from the entity associated withthe NCC 136. Advantageously, in certain embodiments, rewriting thenetwork page code to cause the client 102 to access cacheable resourcesfrom the CDN POP 210 instead of the NCC 136 can result in faster accessof the cacheable resources compared to accessing the resources via theNCC 136. In some embodiments, the block 312 may be optional. Forexample, the first time a network page is accessed, the network page maybe provided to the client device 102 without modifying the network pagecode. However, cacheable resources referenced by the network page may becached to facilitate faster future accesses to cacheable resourcesreferenced by the network page.

The block 312 may also include storing the cacheable resource at theresource cache 214 of the CDN POP 210. In some cases, storing thecacheable resource at the resource cache 214 may be optional. Forexample, when a network page has previously been accessed within a timeperiod associated with the time-to-live value of the cacheable resource,the cacheable resource may already exist at the resource cache 214.Further, the block 312 may include storing a copy of the cacheableresource at the NCC POP 134, such as at the storage 140.

In cases where the network page includes a plurality of cacheableresources, some of the plurality of cacheable resources may be locatedat a different CDN POP or at a different CDN associated with a differententity than other cacheable resources of the plurality of cacheableresources. In such cases, the block 312 may include rewriting thenetwork page to redirect the client device to the corresponding CDN POPor CDN for each cacheable resource. Additional optional embodiments ofthe process of rewriting the network page are described with respect toFIG. 4.

Further, if the network page code modification engine 202 determinesthat the network page includes one or more cacheable resources, theproxy server 208 may store a copy of the one or more cacheable resourcesat a CDN and/or at the NCC 136. In some cases, if a cacheable resourceis already stored at a CDN, a copy of the cacheable resource is notobtained from the content provider system 104. However, if a TTL valueassociated with the cacheable resource has expired or been reached, anew copy of the cached resource may be obtained and stored at a CDN.Alternatively, each time a network page is requested, a new copy of thecached resource is obtained thereby increasing the probability that theCDN will have a non-expired copy of the cached resource during asubsequent request for the network page.

At block 314, the proxy server 208 provides the modified network page tothe client device 102. As previously stated, in some cases the proxyserver 208 may provide an unmodified version of the network page to theclient device 102, such as the first time the network page is accessed.In some embodiments, the proxy server 208 may stream or provide aportion of the network page, or code thereof, to the client device 102before, or while, rewriting code associated with other portions of thenetwork page. For example, portions of the network page not includingcacheable resources may be provided to the client device 102 whileportions of the network page including cacheable resources arerewritten. Advantageously, by providing portions of the network page tothe client device 102 while other portions of the network page code arerewritten, the client device 102 can begin rendering the network page oraccessing non-cacheable network resources associated with the networkpage before receiving the entire network page.

In some cases, some operations associated with the process 300 may beoptional including, for example, the block 304, 306, 308, and 312. Forinstance, in some cases the process 300 may have been performed for aprior access of a network page. In such instances, the network page codemodification engine 202 may determine whether cacheable resourcesassociated with the network page are still current based, for example,on the time-to-live values associated with the cacheable resources. Ifthe cacheable resources are still current, the proxy server 208 mayprovide a previously rewritten version of the network page to the client102. The previously rewritten version of the network page may beaccessed from the storage 140. In some cases, portions of the networkpage may be obtained from the content provider system 104 and portionsmay be obtained from the storage 140. In other embodiments, the process300 may be repeated in its entirety for each request to access thenetwork page to ensure, for example, the latest version of the networkpage is provided to the client 102.

Example Location-Based Network Page Code Modification Process

FIG. 4 presents a flowchart of an embodiment of a location-based networkpage code modification process. The process 400 can be implemented byany system that can modify network page code based, at least partially,on the location of one or more of the client device 102, the CDN or aPOP of the CDN (e.g., CDN POP 210) for one or more cacheable resourcesassociated with the network page, and the network computing component(e.g., the NCC 136). For example, the process 400, in whole or in part,can be implemented by a network computing component (e.g., the NCC 136),a network page code modification engine 202, a client locationidentification system 204, a CDN identification system 206, and theproxy server 208, to name a few. Although any number of systems, inwhole or in part, can implement the process 400, to simplify discussion,the process 400 will be described with respect to particular systems.

The process 400 may be performed as at least part of the processassociated with the block 312. Alternatively, or in addition, theprocess 400 may be performed as part of any process for writing orrewriting code for a network page based at least partially on thelocation of a user computing system, a content provider, a proxy system,and/or a CDN. Further, the process 400, or at least some operationsassociated with the process 400, may be repeated for each cacheableresource of a network page. For example, in cases where cacheableresources are stored at different locations, the operations associatedwith the process 400 may be performed separately for each cacheableresource, or for subsets of the cacheable resources located atparticular network systems, such as CDNs.

The process 400 begins at block 402 where, for example, the clientlocation identification system 204 determines a geographic location ofthe client device 102. In some embodiments, the geographic location maybe determined based on a network address, such as an Internet Protocol(IP) address. Alternatively, or in addition, the geographic location maybe identified based on information provided by a user of the clientdevice 102, such as a zip code. Further, in some cases, the geographiclocation may be provided by the network 108, such as by a cellularcommunication service provider. In some instances, the location may bebased on cookies or other code at the client device 102.

At block 404, the CDN identification system 206 determines a geographiclocation of the CDN POP 210 for a cacheable resource. The block 404 mayinclude identifying a CDN POP 210 with the cacheable resource based on adata structure, such as a hash map, that includes a reference to thecacheable resource and one or more locations where the cacheableresource is stored. Further, the CDN POP 210 may be selected from thehash map based on the location of the client device 102 and a geographicregion associated with the CDN POP 210 in the data structure. In somecases, the CDN that includes the CDN POP 210 is associated with the sameentity as the network computing provider system 107 that includes theNCC 136. Alternatively, the CDN that includes the CDN POP 210 may beassociated with a different entity. The geographic location of the CDNPOP 210 may be determined based on an IP address, by querying acomputing system at the CDN POP 210, information associated with thenetwork page, by accessing a database of location information for CDNPOPs, or any information that may be used to determine a CDN POP 210location. In cases where the CDN POP 210 is associated with the sameentity as the NCC 136, the NCC 136 may be configured with the locationof the CDN POP 210 or provided with access to a database of CDN POPlocations maintained by the entity.

In some embodiments, the NCC 136 may also determine its own geographiclocation as part of the process 400. The NCC 136 may determine itsgeographic location by accessing a registry or configuration informationassociated with the NCC 136 or with the NCC POP 134 to determine thelocation of the NCC 136. In some cases, the NCC 136 may determine itsgeographic location based on network information. In other cases, theNCC 136 may be configured by, for example, an administrator with itsgeographic location. In some cases, the geographic location of theclient device 102, the CDN POP 210, and/or the NCC 136 may be determinedbased on a global positioning system (GPS).

The network page code modification engine 202 determines at the decisionblock 406 whether the client device 102 is geographically closer to theCDN POP 210 than to the NCC 136, or the NCC POP 134. If the clientdevice 102 is not closer to the CDN POP 210 than to the NCC 136, theproxy server 208 provides the network page to the client device 102 atblock 408 without rewriting the network page. Thus, in some embodiments,even when the network page includes a cacheable resource, the networkpage code modification engine 202 may not rewrite the network page codeas part of the process associated with the block 312.

If the client device 102 is closer to the CDN POP 210 than to the NCC136, the network page code modification engine 202 rewrites the networkpage to redirect the client device 102 to the CDN POP 210 for accessingthe cacheable resource. In some embodiments, the block 410 may includesome or all of the embodiments previously described with respect to theblock 312. The process 400 may then include providing the rewrittennetwork page to the client device 102 as described with respect to theblock 314.

In some embodiments, the process 400 may be based on a network locationinstead of, or in addition to, a geographic location. For example, insome cases, the blocks 402 and 404 may include determining a location ofthe client device 102 and the CDN POP 210 respectively on the network108. The decision block 406 may then determine whether the client deviceis closer to the resource cache 214 at the CDN POP 210 or the NCC 136 atthe NCC POP 134 based on a distance within the network 108, such as theminimum or average number of network hops between the systems. In someembodiments, a combination, which may be a weighted combination, of thegeographic distance and a network distance between the systems may beused at the decision block 406 to determine whether the client device iscloser to the resource cache 214 of the CDN POP 210 or the NCC 136.

Further, in certain embodiments, a measure of the quality of theconnection between network hops may be used to determine whether torewrite the network page. For example, if the connections in the network108 between the client 102 and the resource cache 214 at the CDN POP 210are faster or have lower latency than the connections in the network 108between the client 102 and the NCC 136, the network page codemodification engine 202 may rewrite the network page even in some caseswhere the NCC POP 134 is closer to the client device 102 than the CDNPOP 210.

In some embodiments, a difference in cost of accessing the cacheableresource at the CDN compared to the NCC may be used to determiningwhether to rewrite the network page. The cost may be a monetary costand/or based on a number of additional or substitute factors. Forexample, the cost may be based on electricity or energy consumption,network bandwidth consumption, network resource consumption, latencyimpact, network connections established, etc. Further, in some cases,the cost may be associated with a quality of service. In such cases, thesystem, or network connection, that can provide a higher quality ofservice may be considered as lower cost. The quality of service may bebased on a number of quality of service factors. For example, thequality of service factors may include amount of bandwidth available,latency of connections, rate of dropped or lost connections, rate ofrepeated packet requests, etc.

Example Content Delivery Network Selection Process

FIG. 5 presents a flowchart of an embodiment of a content deliverynetwork selection process. The process 500 can be implemented by anysystem that can select a content delivery network, or a contentdistribution network, to store and/or provide access to a cacheableresource of a network page. Further, in some cases, the process 500 canbe implemented by any system that can select a POP of a selected CDN.For example, the process 500, in whole or in part, can be implemented bya network computing component (e.g., the NCC 136), a network page codemodification engine 202, a client location identification system 204, aCDN identification system 206, and the proxy server 208, to name a few.Although any number of systems, in whole or in part, can implement theprocess 500, to simplify discussion, the process 500 will be describedwith respect to particular systems.

In some embodiments, the process 500 may be performed in response toreceiving a request for a network page. In other embodiments, theprocess 500 may be performed in response to prior requests for thenetwork page by the user or by other users. Further, in some cases, theprocess 500 may be performed as part of a network crawling, or webcrawling, process.

The process 500 begins at block 502 where, for example, a networkcomputing component (e.g., the NCC 136) identifies a cacheable resourceassociated with a network page of a content provider (e.g., the contentprovider system 104). In certain embodiments, the block 502 can includesome or all of the embodiments described with respect to the decisionblock 308.

At decision block 504, the NCC 136 determines whether the cacheableresource is located at a CDN (e.g., the CDN that includes the CDN POP116) associated with the content provider system 104. Determiningwhether the cacheable resource is location at the CDN may includeanalyzing a path (e.g., a URL path) for accessing the cacheableresource, a tag (e.g., an XML tag) associated with the cacheableresource, or any other data or metadata that may be used to determinewhere the cacheable resource may be located. Further, in some cases, thedecision block 504 may include accessing a whitelist to identify whetherthe network page is associated with an entity that maintains a CDN orthat utilizes a CDN for storing cacheable resources.

If the cacheable resource is not located at a CDN associated with thecontent provider system 104, the client location identification system204 identifies a geographic region of a threshold percentage of userswho access the network page at block 506. The geographic region can bedefined based on any type of boundary or characteristic associated withthe geographic region. For example, the geographic regions may be basedon one or more geographic, social, political, or legal boundaries.Further, the geographic regions may be defined based on a user (e.g., anadministrator) configuration. Non-limiting examples of geographicregions can include states, counties, countries, and geographic area(e.g., 100 square miles). Further, in some cases, the geographic regionsmay be defined based on zones of control associated with CDN POPs for aCDN associated with the network computing provider system 107.

In some cases, the threshold percentage of users may be configured by auser (e.g., an administrator). Further, the threshold percentage may bedefined as a relative threshold. For example, the threshold percentagemay be defined as the highest percentage of users. In some cases, thethreshold percentage of users may be set such that a single geographicregion satisfies the threshold. In some such cases, if no geographicregion achieves the threshold, the process 500 may end and a CDN may notbe used for the network page. Alternatively, the geographic region withthe highest percentage of users who access the network page may beselected. In other embodiments, each geographic region that satisfiesthe threshold percentage may be selected. In such cases, the process 500may be used to select multiple CDN POPs to host a copy of the cacheableresource. In some embodiments, the block 506 may identify a geographicregion that includes an absolute number of users that satisfy athreshold.

The CDN identification system 206, at block 508, selects a CDN POP(e.g., CDN POP 210) associated with the NCC 136 based, at leastpartially, on the geographic region identified at the block 506. Aspreviously stated, in some cases, multiple CDN POPs may be selected,such as in cases where multiple geographic regions satisfy a threshold.In some embodiments, a CDN POP may be selected to conform with legalrequirements. For example, to satisfy laws of a particular country, aCDN POP may be selected so that cacheable resources for the network pagedo not enter and/or leave the country.

At block 510, the NCC 136 stores a copy of the cacheable resource at theselected CDN POP (e.g., CDN POP 210) identified at the block 508. Insome cases, the NCC 136 stores a copy of the cacheable resource atmultiple CDN POPs as selected at the block 508. Storing the copy of thecacheable resource at the CDN POPs may include storing the cacheableresource at a resource cache (e.g., the resource cache 214) for each CDNPOP.

In some embodiments, the block 510 may include creating or modifying adata structure, such as a hash map or hash table, to track where acacheable resource is stored, such as the CDN POP selected as part ofthe process of the block 508. Further, in some cases, the data structuremay include the identity of a geographic region associated with theselected CDN POP. Client devices 102 that are determined to be withinthe geographic region associated with the selected CDN POP may beprovided with a rewritten or modified network page that directs orredirects the client device 102 to access the cacheable resource fromthe selected CDN POP. Client devices 102 that are not within thegeographic region may be provided a network page that is not rewrittenor that is rewritten to access the cacheable resource from another CDNPOP. Thus, in some cases, the data structure may include multipleentries for a cacheable resource with each entry identifying the storagelocation for the cacheable resource and a geographic region associatedwith the particular entry. The data structure may be stored at thestorage 140 of each NCC 136. In some cases, each NCC may update otherNCCs each time the data structure or cacheable resources is updated ormodified.

The network page code modification engine 202 rewrites, at block 512,the network page to redirect the client device 102 to the CDN POPselected at the block 508 for accessing the cacheable resource.

If the cacheable resource is located at a CDN associated with thecontent provider system 104, the CDN identification system 206identifies a location of the CDN associated with the content providersystem 104 at block 514. In some cases, identifying the location of theCDN associated with the content provider system 104 may includeidentifying a CDN POP (e.g., the CDN POP 116) for the CDN. At the block512, the network page code modification engine 202 rewrites the networkpage to redirect the client device 102 to the CDN identified at theblock 514 to access the cacheable resource. In some embodiments, theblock 512 may be optional in cases where the cacheable resource islocated at the CDN associated with the content provider system 104. Forexample, in such cases, the network page may already refer to the CDN.As a second example, the entity associated with the NCC 136 may chooseto have cacheable resources accessed via the proxy server 208 instead ofby accessing the CDN associated with the content provider system 104.

The process 500 may be repeated for a cacheable resource based on atime-to-live (TTL) value associated with the cacheable resource. Thefrequency that the process 500 is repeated can depend on the TTL value.For example, if the TTL value for a cacheable resource is 48 hours, theprocess 500 may be repeated every 48 hours. Further, the frequency thatthe process 500 is performed may vary if the TTL value for the cacheableresource changes in subsequent performances of the process 500.

In some embodiments, the process 500 may include selecting a CDN POP fora CDN associated with the network computing provider system 107 andstoring a copy of the selected resource at the selected CDN POPregardless of whether a CDN is associated with the content providersystem 104. For example, in some cases, the entity associated with thenetwork computing provider system 107 may decide to use its own CDNregardless of whether the cacheable resource is already stored at a CDN.As another example, in cases a POP for the CDN associated with thenetwork computing provider system 107 is closer than POPs for the CDNassociated with the content provider system 104, it may be advantageousto use the CDN associated with the network computing provider system 107to improve access speed for the cacheable resource.

Terminology

A number of computing systems have been described throughout thisdisclosure. The descriptions of these systems are not intended to limitthe teachings or applicability of this disclosure. For example, thenetwork computing component 136 described herein can generally includeany computing device(s), such as desktops, laptops, servers, anddistributed computing systems, to name a few. As a second example, theclient devices 102 can generally include any computing device(s), suchas desktops, laptops, servers, video game platforms, television set-topboxes, televisions (e.g., internet TVs), computerized appliances, andwireless mobile devices (e.g. smart phones, PDAs, tablets, electronicbook readers, or the like), to name a few. Further, it is possible forthe user systems described herein to be different types of devices, toinclude different applications, or to otherwise be configureddifferently. In addition, the user systems described herein can includeany type of operating system (“OS”). For example, the mobile computingsystems described herein can implement an Android™ OS, a Windows® OS, aMac® OS, a Linux or Unix-based OS, or the like.

Further, the processing of the various components of the illustratedsystems can be distributed across multiple machines, networks, and othercomputing resources. In addition, two or more components of a system canbe combined into fewer components. For example, the various systemsillustrated as part of the network computing component 136 can bedistributed across multiple computing systems, or combined into a singlecomputing system. Further, various components of the illustrated systemscan be implemented in one or more virtual machines, rather than indedicated computer hardware systems. Likewise, the data repositoriesshown can represent physical and/or logical data storage, including, forexample, storage area networks or other distributed storage systems.Moreover, in some embodiments the connections between the componentsshown represent possible paths of data flow, rather than actualconnections between hardware. While some examples of possibleconnections are shown, any of the subset of the components shown cancommunicate with any other subset of components in variousimplementations.

Depending on the embodiment, certain acts, events, or functions of anyof the algorithms, methods, or processes described herein can beperformed in a different sequence, can be added, merged, or left outaltogether (e.g., not all described acts or events are necessary for thepractice of the algorithms). Moreover, in certain embodiments, acts orevents can be performed concurrently, e.g., through multi-threadedprocessing, interrupt processing, or multiple processors or processorcores or on other parallel architectures, rather than sequentially.

Each of the various illustrated systems may be implemented as acomputing system that is programmed or configured to perform the variousfunctions described herein. The computing system may include multipledistinct computers or computing devices (e.g., physical servers,workstations, storage arrays, etc.) that communicate and interoperateover a network to perform the described functions. Each such computingdevice typically includes a processor (or multiple processors) thatexecutes program instructions or modules stored in a memory or other non-transitory computer-readable storage medium. The various functionsdisclosed herein may be embodied in such program instructions, althoughsome or all of the disclosed functions may alternatively be implementedin application-specific circuitry (e.g., ASICs or FPGAs) of the computersystem. Where the computing system includes multiple computing devices,these devices may, but need not, be co located. The results of thedisclosed methods and tasks may be persistently stored by transformingphysical storage devices, such as solid state memory chips and/ormagnetic disks, into a different state. Each process described may beimplemented by one or more computing devices, such as one or morephysical servers programmed with associated server code.

Conditional language used herein, such as, among others, “can,” “might,”“may,” “e.g.,” and the like, unless specifically stated otherwise, orotherwise understood within the context as used, is generally intendedto convey that certain embodiments include, while other embodiments donot include, certain features, elements and/or states. Thus, suchconditional language is not generally intended to imply that features,elements and/or states are in any way required for one or moreembodiments or that one or more embodiments necessarily include logicfor deciding, with or without author input or prompting, whether thesefeatures, elements and/or states are included or are to be performed inany particular embodiment. The terms “comprising,” “including,”“having,” and the like are synonymous and are used inclusively, in anopen-ended fashion, and do not exclude additional elements, features,acts, operations, and so forth. Also, the term “or” is used in itsinclusive sense (and not in its exclusive sense) so that when used, forexample, to connect a list of elements, the term “or” means one, some,or all of the elements in the list. In addition, the articles “a” and“an” are to be construed to mean “one or more” or “at least one” unlessspecified otherwise.

Disjunctive language such as the phrase “at least one of X, Y, or Z,”unless specifically stated otherwise, is otherwise understood with thecontext as used in general to present that an item, term, etc., may beeither X, Y, or Z, or any combination thereof (e.g., X, Y, and/or Z).Thus, such disjunctive language is not generally intended to, and shouldnot, imply that certain embodiments require at least one of X, at leastone of Y, or at least one of Z to each be present.

While the above detailed description has shown, described, and pointedout novel features as applied to various embodiments, it will beunderstood that various omissions, substitutions, and changes in theform and details of the devices or algorithms illustrated can be madewithout departing from the spirit of the disclosure. Thus, nothing inthe foregoing description is intended to imply that any particularfeature, characteristic, step, operation, module, or block is necessaryor indispensable. As will be recognized, the processes described hereincan be embodied within a form that does not provide all of the featuresand benefits set forth herein, as some features can be used or practicedseparately from others. The scope of protection is defined by theappended claims rather than by the foregoing description. All changeswhich come within the meaning and range of equivalency of the claims areto be embraced within their scope.

What is claimed is:
 1. A method for selecting a cacheable resourcelocation, the method comprising: by a network computing componentassociated with a first entity and comprising one or more processors:receiving a cacheable resource associated with a network page; inresponse to determining that the cacheable resource is not stored at acontent delivery network: identifying a geographic region that includesa threshold number of users who access the network page; selecting acontent delivery network system from a plurality of content deliverynetwork systems based at least in part on the identified geographicregion, wherein the content delivery network system is selected from theplurality of content delivery network systems using a hash map indexedbased at least in part on a geographic location of a client device; andstoring a copy of the cacheable resource at the content delivery networksystem; receiving a request from the client device to access the networkpage, the client device located within the geographic region;determining whether the geographic location of the client device iscloser to a geographic location of the content delivery network systemor a geographic location of the network computing component; and inresponse to determining that the geographic location of the clientdevice is geographically closer to the geographic location of thecontent delivery network system than to the geographic location of thenetwork computing component: rewriting code associated with the networkpage to cause the client device to access the cacheable resource fromthe content delivery network system; providing the rewritten code to theclient device; and refreshing a copy of the cacheable resource stored atthe content delivery network system, reducing the probability that asubsequent request to access the network page will occur when atime-to-live value associated with the cacheable resource stored at thecontent delivery network system does not satisfy a threshold value. 2.The method of claim 1, further comprising, in response to determiningthat the geographic location of the client device is geographicallycloser to the geographic location of the network computing componentthan to the geographic location of the content delivery network,providing the code associated with the network page to the client deviceenabling the client device to access the cacheable resource via thenetwork computing component.
 3. The method of claim 1, whereindetermining the geographic location of the client device comprisesdetermining the geographic location of the client device based at leastpartially on a network address associated with the client device.
 4. Themethod of claim 1, wherein the content delivery network system isassociated with an entity associated with the network computingcomponent.
 5. The method of claim 1, wherein determining the geographiclocation of the content delivery network system storing the cacheableresource comprises: accessing a data structure comprising a set ofrelationships between cacheable resources and a set of content deliverynetwork systems, the set of content delivery network systems includingthe content delivery network system; and identifying the contentdelivery network system from the data structure.
 6. The method of claim5, wherein identifying the content delivery network system from the datastructure comprises identifying the content delivery network systembased at least in part on the content delivery network system storingthe cacheable resource and on a service area associated with the contentdelivery network system.
 7. The method of claim 6, wherein the servicearea reflects the geographic region serviced by the content deliverynetwork system.
 8. The method of claim 6, wherein the service areareflects a portion of a computing network serviced by the contentdelivery network system.
 9. A system configured to select a cacheableresource location, the system comprising: a network computing componentcomprising one or more hardware processors in electrical communicationwith a memory that stores cacheable resources, the network computingcomponent configured to: receive a cacheable resource associated with anetwork page; in response to determining that the cacheable resource isnot stored at a content delivery network: identify a geographic regionthat includes a threshold number of users who access the network page;select a content delivery network system from a plurality of contentdelivery network systems based at least in part on the identifiedgeographic region, wherein the content delivery network system isselected from the plurality of content delivery network systems using ahash map indexed based at least in part on a geographic location of acomputing system; and store a copy of the cacheable resource at thecontent delivery network system; receive a request from the computingsystem to access the network page, the computing system located withinthe geographic region; and in response to determining that a location ofthe computing system is closer to a location of the content deliverynetwork system than to a location of the network computing component:rewrite code associated with the network page to cause the computingsystem to access the cacheable resource from the content deliverynetwork system; provide the rewritten code to the computing system; andrefresh the copy of the cacheable resource stored at the contentdelivery network system, reducing the probability that a subsequentrequest to access the network page will occur when the time-to-livevalue associated with the cacheable resource stored at the contentdelivery network system does not satisfy a threshold value.
 10. Thesystem of claim 9, wherein the location of the computing system and thelocation of the content delivery network system comprise geographiclocations.
 11. The system of claim 9, wherein the location of thecomputing system and the location of the content delivery network systemcomprise locations within a network.
 12. The system of claim 11, whereinthe network computing component is configured to determine whether thelocation of the computing system is closer to the location of thecontent delivery network system or the location of the network computingcomponent based at least partially on a number of network hops betweenthe computing system and the content delivery network system and betweenthe computing system and the network computing component.
 13. The systemof claim 9, wherein the network computing component is configured todetermine the location of the computing system based at least partiallyon a network address associated with the computing system.
 14. Thesystem of claim 9, wherein the network computing component is furtherconfigured to provide to the computing system a first portion of therewritten code corresponding to a first portion of the code whilerewriting a second portion of the code.
 15. The system of claim 9,wherein, in response to determining that the location of the computingdevice is closer to the location of the network computing component, thenetwork computing component is further configured to provide the codeassociated with the network page to the computing device withoutrewriting the code.
 16. The system of claim 9, wherein the networkcomputing component and the content delivery network system areassociated with the same entity.
 17. Non-transitory physical computerstorage comprising instructions stored thereon that, when executed byone or more processors, are configured to implement a system forselecting a cacheable resource location, the system comprising: anetwork computing component configured to: receive a cacheable resourceassociated with a network page; in response to determining that thecacheable resource is not stored at a content delivery network: identifya geographic region that includes a threshold number of users who accessthe network page; select a content delivery network system from aplurality of content delivery network systems based at least in part onthe identified geographic region, wherein the content delivery networksystem is selected from the plurality of content delivery networksystems using a hash map indexed based at least in part on a geographiclocation of a computing system; and store a copy of the cacheableresource at the content delivery network system; receive a request fromthe computing system to access the network page, the computing systemlocated within the geographic region; determine whether a first costassociated with the computing system accessing the cacheable resourcefrom a content delivery network system storing a copy of the cacheableresource is lower than a second cost associated with the computingsystem accessing the cacheable resource via the network computingcomponent; and in response to determining that the first cost associatedwith the computing system accessing the cacheable resource from thecontent delivery network system is lower than the second cost associatedwith the computing system accessing the cacheable resource via thenetwork computing component: rewrite code associated with the networkpage to reference the copy of the cacheable resource stored at thecontent delivery network system; provide the rewritten code to thecomputing system; and refresh the copy of the cacheable resource storedat the content delivery network system, reducing the probability that asubsequent request to access the network page will occur when thetime-to-live value associated with the cacheable resource stored at thecontent delivery network system does not satisfy a threshold value. 18.The non-transitory physical computer storage of claim 17, wherein thefirst cost is based at least partially on a location of the computingsystem and a location of the content delivery network system, andwherein the second cost is based at least partially on the location ofthe computing system and a location of the network computing component.19. The non-transitory physical computer storage of claim 17, whereinthe location of the computing system and the location of the contentdelivery network system comprise geographic locations.
 20. Thenon-transitory physical computer storage of claim 17, wherein thelocation of the computing system and the location of the contentdelivery network system comprise locations within a network.
 21. Thenon-transitory physical computer storage of claim 20, wherein the firstcost is based at least partially on a number of network hops between thecomputing system and the content delivery network system, and whereinthe second cost is based at least partially on a number of network hopsbetween the computing system and the network computing component. 22.The non-transitory physical computer storage of claim 20, wherein thefirst cost is based at least partially on a first quality of servicemeasure for communicating between the computing system and the contentdelivery network, and wherein the second cost is based at leastpartially on a second quality of service measure for communicatingbetween the computing system and the network computing component. 23.The non-transitory physical computer storage of claim 17, wherein thenetwork computing component and the content delivery network system areassociated with the same entity.